The Wolf Finds Its Mate
by sassy.southern.belle
Summary: (post series, embry x oc, imprint fic / sisfic) Embry Call is tired of being the last wolf standing. And lately, he's started to give up on that ever happening. He finally imprints, and it's on Anna Swan, who is moving back to Forks to start settling into adulthood and to be closer to her family. The wolf finally has it's mate.. But will everything have a happy end?
1. Prologue 1: Last Wolf Standing

_Okay, so I'm going to try writing from a 3rd person pov, it seems like everyone else does it that way here. I was having trouble with my previous version of this story, and so I decided to attempt rewriting it. Hopefully more people actually like this one. Its set 5 years after Breaking Dawn, all canon events did happen, Embry is the only wolf left to imprint now. And he imprints on my original character Anna (if you're curious about her, i posted stuff about her on my profile?) when she moves back to Forks and moves in with her father Charlie. There won't be any other vamps present than the Cullens for now. And the Cullens won't be in that much either, given that I'm not crazy about vampires and this is supposed to be for Embry, my sexy wolf?_

_Everyone who added the old story to their alerts, I love you all so fucking much, it amazed me. I just want to try writing it this way, changing things up a bit. Hope you guys like it._

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PROLOGUE ONE

_No Longer The Last Wolf Standing_

_The scent was far off, but not so far off that it wasn't sort of taunting and teasing him, beckoning him to come to it, to follow it and to find it. Even with his keen wolf sense of smell, he couldn't quite make out what it was, he did however know that it was the sweetest and most seductive scent he'd ever smelled in his whole life._

_Then again, last week he'd thought the woman down at the frozen yogurt stand was his imprint or something, he was that sick of being alone, that bitter, that hopeless as of late. Everyone else, Leah included, had found their imprints. To this date he remained the last wolf standing. The only one out of all of them that hadn't imprinted._

_And he was getting sick of it, the pitying looks, the way his fellow pack mates just looked at him as if he'd crack or go crazy or something. He'd started to contemplate lately, just letting the damn wolf take over. Obviously, there was something so wrong with him that he couldn't imprint.. Because he'd tried so many times by now to do that very thing._

_The scent tickled his nose again, he took a sharp left and ran through a bush full of brambles and thorns, swearing mentally the entire time. 'This better not be a fucking false alarm.' he thought to himself as the scent all at once hit him like a punch to the face._

_He stepped out, through the bushes and when he saw her, it felt like a punch to the stomach. He was floored. Everything about her stood out, it was sharper, more defined, more clear and visible than everything around her was. It seemed like his vision was tunneling._

_Her tongue trailed slowly over full ruby red lips as she pretended to hide her face in her hands so that Jacob's imprint, Renesmee, could run and hide. Her long dark hair blew lightly in the late afternoon fall breeze and the light bronze tan of her skin stood out against the black Ramones t shirt she wore. His eyes wandered over her slowly, learning her, taking in this girl that the wolf had finally chosen to be it's mate, it's other half._

_He hadn't ever met her before and he found himself wondering how the hell she knew Bella Swan Cullen and Renesmee Cullen._

_The answer came when Renesmee called out loud, "Aunt Anna! Mommy said I can stay tonight!" from the doorway of Charlie's house._

_Her name was Anna and she belonged to him now. If everything he'd just seen moments before was true, she was his imprint, she was his to love and protect, to have a life with._

_His tongue danced over the wolf's lips as he watched them a little longer, from the bushes. From the looks of things, Anna was building some kind of tree house in the back yard of Charlie's house._

_He heard Charlie yelling out the back door, "Are you seriously recording CSI over the football game?"_

"_It's a new one, Dad."_

"_I have to see that enough at work every day though, Anna. And when you start working there, you will too."_

"_But I like crime shows."_

"_Okay, alright.. This time.. You two don't stay out here too long.. I think maybe you two should hold off sleeping in the tree fort until it's warmer.. Don't want Nessie getting a cold or something, all things considered."_

_Renesmee pouted. But she caught sight of a movement in the bushes and smiled to herself as she saw one of the pack standing there, watching her aunt as her aunt worked on finishing the tree fort she'd started building for Renesmee to play in earlier._

"_Nessie, hand me those nails, would ya?" Anna called out, looking over her shoulder at Renesmee who was staring out of the hole in the wall that served as a window. "What's that?"_

"_Come look, Aunt Anna, it's a wolf!"_

_Anna made her way over to the window of the tree fort and gaped as she said "It's.. Holy hell it's huge, isn't it?"_

"_They're all that big." Renesmee mumbled quietly as she thought about Jacob, her friend._

"_Yeah, well.. So, do you think you'll like your tree fort, kiddo?"_

"_Mhmm.. Mommy said she hopes this one doesn't do what the last one you and her tried to build does."_

"_Hey... My side stayed together. Her side fell. She kept whacking her fingers with the hammer though." Anna admitted, laughing a little._

_The two girls got out of the platform with 3 walls and climbed down, running into the house. Anna froze about halfway and for whatever reason, she just watched the large dark gray and black spotted wolf as it watched her._

_Her hand drifted upward to her hair and she muttered quietly, "it's kinda weird.. I mean it's eyes.. They look sort of human." before going into her father's house, shutting the door behind the two of them, leaving Embry to stand there, stunned by what just happened._

_And curious, very curious.._

_He had to figure out some way to meet her face to face. The problem with this lie in that he was awkward, shy and lately, he was a bit of a downer, he'd definitely had a spike in temper problems and accidental phases.._

_Then again, when you're the last wolf standing, it does make you a little bitter watching everyone else around you being happy, building lives, moving on with their lives. _

_He howled one time and took off for the reservation, wasting no time in phasing and going to Jacob's house._

"_I imprinted tonight."  
"Really? That's awesome.. On who?" Jacob asked as he turned in the garage, put down his wrench and looked at Embry._

"_Her name is Anna.. She's Renesmee's aunt or something."_

"_You imprinted on Anna? How? I mean she hasn't been to Forks since Bella moved here, she didn't even come for the wedding.."_

"_Yeah, well, apparently, every single time I've smelled marshmellow lately, Jacob, she's been nearby. And she is there now, I saw her." Embry insisted as he asked, "What's she like?"_

"_She's pretty cool. She was always a closer friend to me than Bella was.. She's basically the opposite of Bella." Jacob said vaguely as he sipped a beer and then added, "But you'll know soon enough."_

"_I'm.. How? I'm me, I don't see it going well."_

"_Embry, damn it, trust me.. If you imprinted on her, it will work out."_

"_There is a chance, Jacob, that the imprint rejects.. What then?"_

"_It won't, Embry, trust me."_

_Embry eyed Jacob warily and then asked "And how the hell am I going to meet her?"_

"_I'll figure something out.. Or Seth.. Charlie's dating Sue."_

_Seth stepped into the garage and then asked, "So, did it really happen?"_

"_It did. And he imprinted on Anna."_

"_Sweet.. So.. When are we going to throw them together?" Seth asked, bouncing around eagerly._

"_I'm.."_

"_Don't start that crap man.. One way or another, you two are going to meet." Jacob stated firmly as Seth nodded and then added with a bright smile, "Would you relax, Embry?"_

_Embry shook his head, still worried that just because he'd imprinted, that didn't guarantee him finally getting the happy ending he craved, the happy ending that he'd been waiting so long for._

_She could, after all, hate him on sight._

"_She's not going to hate you."_

"_What's that look for?"_

"_Oh nothing." Seth said as he thought about the sketches of Anna's 'dream man' he'd seen in her room when he passed by it in the hallway while he was at Charlie's with his mom and Leah earlier in the week.. The dream man who just happened to look almost identical to Embry._

_And then there was the conversation Anna and Leah had about the dream guy and the recurring dreams._

_Suffice to say, he thought Embry might just be pleasantly surprised this time. Things were finally going to get better for his friend._


	2. Prologue 2 : Dreams Vs Reality

_Everyone who added the old story to their alerts, I love you all so fucking much, it amazed me. I just want to try writing it this way, changing things up a bit. Hope you guys like it. Okay, so I had two reviews already! I'm happy with that! This second prologue sort of explains the dreams (not the x rated parts yet, just the imagery or something) and how they make Anna cranky upon awakening.. She's also sort of starting to toy with the idea that they might be some sort of sign or have some sort of meaning? Anyway, yeah.. This dream is a freak occurrence, she doesn't have like powers or something. Just so nobody gets weirded out or something._

_Thanks again to all those who have reviewed and added this story to their alerts! You all mean the world to me and are the sole reason I keep writing this story._

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PROLOGUE TWO

DREAMS ARE BETTER THAN REALITY

_She tossed and turned, moaning now and again as she slept, a smile on her face. Every now and then, Anna bit her lip and her back arched. The thin tanktop she wore worked it's way upward, almost over her head. _

_Just like every other night since she turned fifteen, she was having this intense and very racy dream about a wolf.. Who transformed into a man right in front of her eyes. It started out that she'd be standing on a cliff, it looked like the cliffs that jutted out over the water at First Beach, and then as the wolf walked towards her, it would start to shift in shape.. And by the time the wolf reached her, stood in front of her, it would be a man.. He had to be about her age, his hair was about midway past his shoulders, it blew in the breeze around them. His hand would reach out, his index finger tip would trail slowly over her lower lip making her lips quiver, making her groan a little._

"_Who are you?"_

_Whenever the guy would answer, the sound would be muted, muffled.. Almost as if she weren't supposed to hear his name. She could hear one word, though, and it was always the same, 'Soon'. It always happened just after the racier parts of her dream, when he was finished kissing, touching, biting and holding her, taking her over and over again. _

_Tonight was no different. The strange thing about this dream, however, was that this time, she actually got a better view of the wolf and it looked exactly like the wolf who'd been standing in her fathers yard earlier. This realization sort of weighed on her, it stayed with her even after the alarm clock on her nightstand was going crazy and she had to get up and get ready to go to class for the morning. She sat up in the bed, taking her journal, doing a quick and rough sketch of the wolf so she wouldn't forget._

"_Like this actually means something.. It's just your idle mind, Anna, using things you saw during the day.. That's all." Anna mumbled mostly to herself as she wiggled the tank top she'd been sleeping in back down over her upper body, slid off the bed and went to the bathroom. She laughed at her reflection, the way her hair stuck up every which way, the way her lips swelled slightly at imaginary kisses that had been hungry, hot and very passionate. She scowled a little and after brushing her hair, she slid her feet into a pair of heels, fixed her hair a little, ran downstairs and slid into her seat at the table._

"_You didn't wake me up to make breakfast?"_

"_Why? I can handle doing it." Charlie said as he looked at her in concern and asked, "Are you okay? Your face looks flushed today."_

"_I'm fine." Anna said as she blushed a deep scarlet that only Bella and Renesmee picked up on, Bella nudging her after their father looked away and asking with a laugh, "The dream again?"_

"_How the hell do you know about it?" Anna asked._

"_Well, considering I shared a room with you when I came to visit Rene.. Kind of hard not to know about it.. One day, Anna, you're going to tell me about this dream of yours." Bella said as Anna glared and shook her head no, nodded at Renesmee and reminded Bella, "Little ears. Besides, it's just that.. A dream. That's it. I'd probably die or something if even a little of it turned out to be reality." before going back to the task at hand, eating._

"_So.. How's class going?" Charlie asked Anna who shrugged and said through a mouth full, "It's going. That's about all I can really say. I do think I'm going to like this one hell of a lot better than I'd have liked just working as a cosmetologist."_

"_But you'll be working in a morgue."_

"_Yeah, well.." Anna started to add something about how Bella should have wound up in a morgue, but given that their father was present, she kept her mouth shut, eating her eggs and bacon instead. _

"_Well what? I just don't get why you want to be a coroner."_

"_I don't get a lot of things you decided, Bells, but hey, that's neither here or there now is it?" Anna said sweetly, giving her sister a firm warning glare._

_She was tense, this usually happened after one of those dreams. Tense and frustrated. The result of those two emotions were overall moodiness. To change the subject, she asked Renesmee, "So, there's this new exhibit at the museum this weekend.. I thought that if I got a day off we could go?"_

"_Can I, Mommy?"_

"_Sure.. I mean if your aunt's going and she wants to take you. What's the exhibit? Edward and I might come with."_

"_You wouldn't like it."_

"_Try me."_

"_Okay, alright, damn it, it's the new local one.. About the Quileute legends? And the one they usually put out around this time every year, Haunted Forks?" Anna said finally, Bella looking at her before bursting into laughter. "As in the one Dad took us to when we were 3?"_

"_Yes, damn it, that one.. I happened to like it. I thought Nessie would too. I knew you'd laugh that's why I figured you wouldn't want to come." Anna said as Bella mulled it over and then said with a shrug, "Why not?"_

_Anna turned her attention to her father and asked casually, "So... Do they have an internship at the station?"_

"_I talked to David, he said that all you have to do is come in and fill out an application. He thinks he can talk to one of the heads of the Forensics department at PAU and get them to give you credits, saying it's some kind of work study thing." Charlie said as he looked from Bella to Anna, sort of just marvelling at how different the two of them were, how different their chosen lives had turned out to be. He knew there was tension between the two of them, he honestly didn't blame Anna for her wariness._

_He still didn't get why Bella chose the life she'd chosen._

_He worried sometimes that Anna wasn't really ever going to settle down, but as far as life decisions, he was pretty proud of the ones she'd made. She tended to do things for herself and not other people. She did what she wanted, when she wanted to do it._

"_Oh, Dad.. I'm gonna meet Jessica for drinks tonight. We're getting Mike to drive us back here since he has to leave out in the morning and he can't drink." Anna said as she put her plate into the sink, rinsing it off. She hugged her father, gave Bella a stiff goodbye hug and grabbed the keys to her car, heading out the door._

_And the second she saw the wolf standing there, watching her again, she shrieked, her hand over her heart. "Seriously?You have got to stop scarin me like that, Wolverine." she muttered as she took off her stilettos, discarded them in the passenger seat of her car and got in, starting it._

_She was acutely aware that as she backed away from the curb, the wolf stood there just watching her. She raised a brow but reminded herself that this was Forks, strange things did tend to happen here. Maybe someone had a pet wolf or something.._

_The dream from the night before came back and she swore a little, shaking her head at herself in frustration as she said aloud, "That's all it is, Anna, is a recurring dream.. Most people have recurring nightmares. You have a recurring sex dream. Nothing weird or real about it."_

_Parts of her however, they thought that maybe the part of the wolf being human wouldn't be such a bad thing, really. Something about the way the dream happened made her think of the legends of the local tribe, the Quileutes.._

_Maybe it was because whenever she saw herself in the dream she was dressed in some strange and old looking clothing or something?_

"_So I'll go by the library on campus and check out a book on dream interpretation later. If I want to finally know what this sucker means, that's pretty much the only way I'm gonna find out." Anna told herself as she parked her car and got out, locking it and going into the college campus for the day._

_For some weird reason, the dream kept nagging at her all day long. There was just something about it that she wasn't connecting, apparently.. And it was becoming more vivid, more realistic, or it had been since she'd moved back to Forks about two weeks before._


	3. CHAPTER ONE : Girls Night Out

_Everyone who added the old story to their alerts, I love you all so fucking much, it amazed me. I just want to try writing it this way, changing things up a bit. Hope you guys like it. Okay, so I had two reviews already! I'm happy with that! Okay, so this chapter is sort of just Jessica and Anna hanging out with an appearance from my bamf lady wolf Leah.. She's on friendly terms with Anna, more will come out on the past history of their journey to friendship through the story. So she's not just automatically like Leah's bestie or something, I realize that would be OOC. They have a history, I'll throw it into the story here and there._

_Thanks again to all those who have reviewed and added this story to their alerts! You all mean the world to me and are the sole reason I keep writing this story._

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CHAPTER ONE

Girls Night Out

"So you had the dream again?" Jessica asked as they sipped their drinks. Anna nodded and winced at the bitterness of her mixed drink as she sat it down and then mused aloud, "According to the dream interpretation book that the Abnormal Psych professor loaned me earlier, it's probably nothing more than my frustration at something in my real life that's lacking. Which I happen to think is total bullshit." as she sipped her drink a little more, her eyes darting up to the television that hung over the bar, her fists pounding the wooden countertop when the referree made a bad call. "Who the hell does that guy think he's calling a game for, huh? The Minor Leagues? I mean I get that it's off season but seriously, actually call the freaking game, zebra!"

"Easy, killer." Jessica stated as she eyed her longtime friend and then asked, "Do you think maybe it is just that, frustration?"

"I mean it has to be.. But over what? I'm pretty damn happy with my life." Anna assessed as she slammed back the rest of her drink and shouted along with the other people sitting at the bar currently for the runner on second to run all the way while he had a chance.

"Maybe, and humor me here, Anna, before you go laughing and telling me that you're not frustrated by your lack of a romantic life.. Maybe it literally means you're missing that connection with another person? I mean you say the dreams picked up in intensity when you moved back in with Charlie.. Who else lives close?"

"Like I want what she has.. I mean I'm.." Anna stammered a few moments, turning with a raised fist when someone was shoved into her back in the crowd before turning back around and saying to Jessica, "What?"

"Someone's a little more tightly wound than usual tonight."

"Damn it, J, are you seriously shrinking me right now?"

"Well, if the shoe fits, Anna."

"It's just the dream's so intense and racy.. I'm keyed up like this for a few days after. If it happened every damn night.. Oh man." Anna said as she waved the bartender over, nodding to the Coronas sitting on a shelf in the alcohol freezer behind the bar, taking the drink and popping the top off against the bar as she turned to Jessica and then said quietly, "My point is this, Jessica.. I don't think there's anything in my life that doesn't satisfy me.. I mean I go to class, I go to work, I hang out with you and Mike, I spend time with my family.. I'm pretty happy with things as is."

Deep down, she wasn't entirely sure that was the total truth, but she kept silent on that. The last thing she needed or wanted was Jessica and Mike setting her up on a failed blind date or something. She figured that if it were meant to happen for her, it would happen in it's own time. Unlike her sister, she wasn't in some big rush to find a guy and settle down into domestic bliss or something.

"Yeah, but.. Maybe you're missing something.. Or someone."

"Don't even suggest it, J, you know how I feel about blind date things.. It'll happen whenever it happens."

"Yeah, but sometimes, Anna, it wouldn't kill you to take matters into your own hands?"

"And what? Wind up like Charlie and Rene? Or having to make the ultimate sacrifice like we both know my idiot of a twin did?" Anna mused, taking a long sip of her Corona, watching the game on television for a few moments.

"Sometimes, Anna, good things do happen."

"Not to me they don't." Anna stated quietly as she grabbed a lime, sucking on it, laughing a few moments when Jessica eyed her with a raised brow.

"So I'm a grump." Anna said as she shrugged and discarded the lime wedge into a trash can nearby.

"So.. Onto other things, since obviously you're not going to pull your thumb out of your ass and at least try to get out there and date someone.. How has the kickboxing been going?"

"Pretty good. You should have joined with me, J."

"Yeah, how about no.. I'm not really that athletic." Jessica said as Anna shrugged and stood, pulling up her tank top to show off her abs a little, joking as she said "Punch 'em."

"Umm, no."

"C'mon, J. It's not gonna hurt."

"Last time I did something like that after you told me to, Anna, it ended with you sitting on me."

"You liked it." Anna joked as she saw Leah, her father's girlfriend's daughter walking through the door with the guy she was dating. She waved Leah over and Leah made her way over, asked Anna jokingly, "How many have you had, with your shirt up like that?"

"I have had one mixed drink and one Corona, ma'am." Anna teased gently as she asked, "So you got him to come out too?"

"Yeah. So.. Have the dream again?"

"Damn it, can we all just talk about something other than my odd animal/human sex dream?" Anna blurted, making Jessica and Leah look at her and laugh hysterically for a few moments. Leah stared at her as if she knew something and Anna, catching onto the look asked, "Okay, Clearwater, spit it out."

"It's gonna sound weird.."

"Nothing, at this point, would sound weird to me.. Minoring in Abnormal Psych, remember? And about to become a coroner? Also I frequently have animal/human sex dreams?"

"When you put it like that, Anna, no it doesn't sound weird. There's a guy.."

"Nope, ain't gonna happen."

"Just hear me out.. It has nothing to do with a date.. Why are you so against dating anyway?"

"I'm not against it, I'm just..."

"A huge dorky weenie Mcchicken." Jessica blurted out from behind them as Leah laughed and nodded, giving Jessica the thumbs up in total agreement.

"You were saying, Leah?"

"You showed me those sketches.. What if I told you that the guy you're dreaming about literally exists?"

Anna choked on her Corona and said calmly, "Bullshit." as she slid out a 20 dollar bill.

"So we're betting?"

"Yes, we're betting. This guy is a figment of my overactive imagination. Fact."

"That figment happens to look exactly like Embry Call." Leah said as Anna looked at her a few moments and then said "Gonna need to see some proof."

Leah took out her phone and scrolled through her photos, finding one of Embry that had been sneakily taken at the last bonfire by her or Seth, mostly just to show Anna. One of them had to approach the other.. And Anna being the least shy of the two.. She was clearly the better bet.

Anna spat her drink everywhere and choked, Jessica patting her on the back a few moments as Jessica looked from the photo to Anna who said quietly, "That's.. You.. How the hell..."

"I don't know how, Anna.. But he lives in La Push." Leah stated with a smirk as she looked at Anna who was finally coming out of her shock. She pocketed the 20 and then asked, "So.. Aren't you at least a little curious about him?"

"Leah.."

"Anna.."

"I don't do the whole dating thing.. Awkward as hell, remember?" Anna said as Leah shook her head and then said "Or like Jessica said.. A chicken." as she sipped a soda and looked at a girl she'd actually gotten a little close to in the recent weeks.

"Yes, there's that. A chicken." Anna mused as she sipped her Corona, finishing it, tossing the bottle at a trash bin nearby.

Leah covertly texted her little brother. Embry was going to have to dig down and find the guts to approach Anna first from the looks of things.. Or the rest of the pack would have to find some sort of way to sort of throw them together.

Either way, this was happening and as soon as the people involved could possibly make it happen, the two of them meeting face to face.


	4. CHAPTER TWO: Bonfire Night

_Everyone who added the old story to their alerts, I love you all so fucking much, it amazed me. I just want to try writing it this way, changing things up a bit. Hope you guys like it. Okay, so I had two reviews already! I'm happy with that! Okay, so this chapter is sort of just Embry and the pack trying to figure out a way for Embry to actually meet Anna in person. Seth, of course, brings up the subject of Anna's dreams and Renesmee (who is with Jacob, who is sitting her for a few hours since Bella allows him to spend time with her and Anna is working) even sort of helps by giving Embry a sketch that she took from Anna's Sketch book of him both in wolf and human form. She still has yet to meet him. Again, this dream is not an actual power or special ability. It's a random freak thing that just happens to be true this time around. After it's no longer needed in the story, it probably won't come up anymore.. I don't wanna make people mad or something, lol._

_Thanks again to all those who have reviewed and added this story to their alerts! You all mean the world to me and are the sole reason I keep writing this story._

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CHAPTER TWO

"Whoa, wait? When you say she dreams about me, Seth.. You're gonna have to clarify what that means.." Embry said as he looked at Seth and then at Jacob, who had Renesmee with him for a few hours, apparently he was babysitting Renesmee for Bella and Edward because apparently, tonight, Embry's imprint couldn't because she was starting her work study program at Forks PD.. As the coroners assistant.

"Just what it means, dude." Seth said as he took a bite of his steak and then stated through a mouth full, "And according to my sister, who saw her last night, out at a sports bar in Port Angeles with Jessica Stanley, she's probably not going to be brave enough to make the first move."

"The hell does just what it means even mean, Seth?"

"It means, Embry, that she's dreamed about you.. Which is weird considering she hasn't met you.. It's this recurring thing, Bells said it's been going on since Anna was about fifteen or something." Jacob stated as Renesmee took a deep breath and dug around in her little pink bookbag amongst her books and her journal, walking over to Embry, shoving a sketch ripped out of her aunt Anna's sketch pad at him.

Embry unfolded the paper and studied it a few moments. It was a pretty detailed but still slightly roughly sketched version of his inner wolf.. And when he flipped it over, he saw that she'd sketched a fairly accurate sketch of him in human form on the other side.

"But we've never met before."

"Yes, Embry, we know this. This is why you have to at least try, dipstick. Because if the imprint were going to reject, really don't think she'd be having bizarre sexual type dreams about you without even knowing you." Leah pointed out as she rolled her eyes a little, pretending annoyance.

She laughed a little after her eyes scanned a text. "And she's texting me now."

"She has time to do that?" Jacob asked, laughing a little as he slid a marshmellow onto a stick for Renesmee, he got to keep her tonight so Anna could go into work and Edward and Bella could do their own thing for a few hours.

"She's just the assistant, Jacob, you dumb ass, and anyway it's not like they're up to their eyes in corpses. This is Forks. According to this text, she's on her break, but all they had her doing before was refiling cold cases and stuff." Leah stated as she waved the phone in Embry's direction, showing him a picture that Anna sent Leah.

He snickered a little, and after gazing intently at his imprint's picture for a few moments, he said quietly, "So I'll have to approach her first."

"Yes, because she's anti dating.. Actually, to be honest, it's not that she's anti dating, but that's what she'll tell you so she doesn't have to face the fact that she's kind of a chicken because she thinks that if she did try, it wouldn't do her any good.. I have a feeling that certain people have a lot to do with that, but yeah.. She just thinks it would go all kinds of badly." Leah stated as Embry nodded, looked at the phone one more time, reading a text that had come in for Leah from Anna while he'd been fixated on the picture text she sent and had it in his hand.

"She's taking me to a museum Saturday." Renesmee offered quietly, looking at Embry a few moments, smiling. She wanted Embry to meet her aunt, because she liked having her aunt Anna around, Anna had all these interesting stories and always wanted to do strange but fun and interesting things. Things that her mom and dad weren't easily convinced that it would be okay for Renesmee to do, just because she was what she was.

Anna didn't really treat her like she was different or anything. And yes, sometimes having her aunt around was like having a grown up child to play with. Not to mention, her aunt Alice seemed to think that Anna and Embry were meant to be together or something, she'd had this vision about Anna with someone, but since it was a shifter (who they knew now was Embry according to her mommy) Alice couldn't tell who. She'd just seen Anna with someone and happy.. Not pretend happy like she did a lot now. Really and truly happy.

Leah looked at Jacob's imprint a few moments and then turned her attention back to the task at hand currently, which was figuring out a plausible way for Embry and Anna to accidentally bump into one another.

" We'll figure something out, Embry."

" It's fine, really.. I mean she might not like me. For all I know, she could actually hate me on sight or something. Like I said before." Embry said quietly as he stared into the fire, poking at it. If his friends were right, he was going to have to do the unusual and make the first move.

And about halfway through the bonfire, he thought of a way he just might be able to do that very thing.. Now the question remained.. If he did manage to pull it off, how would it go? He hoped it would finally work out, that he might finally be about to get his own happy ending, but as usual, the skeptic inside him didn't want to get his hopes up too high.

All he did know was that he was apparently going to have to make the first move.. Because according to Leah, Anna was too afraid to.

And he wondered why she would be afraid of love to begin with.. He'd have to ask Leah if she might know why, or if she'd explain what she hinted at a few minutes before later.

"She's mad."

"What's up?" Embry asked, brow raised, concerned. Knowing Leah was talking to, or rather, texting, his imprint sort of had him on alert, curious, wondering what was going on, wishing he could hurry up and meet her in person already and not just in the wolf form like he'd done twice now.

"We're eating barbecue and she just got her food for the night.. A hamburger. That they forgot to put tons of onions and pickles on." Leah said as she laughed a little and then texted Anna back that she should come to a bonfire sometime or something.

When Anna actually texted back that yes, she'd probably love to, Leah laughed out loud and then said "So. She said she'd come with me to one of the bonfires."

Embry smiled a little, but inside he was still nervous as hell..

How was this all going to go?

"When?"

"Well I thought maybe Friday night.. She's off and I'm pretty sure Sam will want to have yet another meeting with us all." Leah mused aloud as she texted Anna back and asked, "Friday?" doing a victory fist when again, Anna texted back Yes.

So he'd get to meet her face to face on Friday. The thought made him smile a little to himself.


	5. CHAPTER THREE: Meeting Embry (Again)

_You guys are awesome! I'm up to four reviews so far and I love you all so much for reviewing, favoriting and following this story. Thanks sooooo much! This chapter is Embry and Anna's first (technically second) meeting. A little background as to why she might have been dreaming about him in particular (though not as to why she managed to picture him so accurately after only having met him one time prior as a child) comes out and some funny things Anna's done to Bella over the course of their childhood come out. Also, there's some cute moments, but I'm trying my best to keep things at a nice and slow or steady pace. But there are cute moments with Embry and Anna in here too. :)_

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CHAPTER THREE

"Are you totally sure this is okay?" Anna asked for what had to be the fifth time since Leah and Anna had gotten out of Anna's black Mustang. Leah gave her friend a raised brow and then said "If Bella can come to one, so can you. Now come on already, I'm starved!" as the two girls walked down the beach, towards the bonfire in the distance. As soon as her scent hit his nose, Embry's head shot up and his eyes started to dart around, searching for Anna.

He found her standing with Leah, the two of them talking, laughing about something as they sipped sodas and looked out at the water. Seth nudged him and then asked with a laugh, "Well? She's here. Now all you have to do, Embry, is walk over and say hi."

Before he could retort to Seth's comment and remind him why he was bad at that sort of thing, Jared and Paul had shoved him out into the direct path of Anna, who'd just turned around. And when she saw him, she stared a few moments, this wide eyed deer in the headlights look on her face.

She quickly recovered after gaping like an ass for a grand total of almost 10 seconds and then said quietly, "Hi."

"Hey. It's Anna, right?" Embry asked, shuffling his feet a little as he looked at her, smiled to himself a little.

"Yeah, it's Anna.. Embry, right?" Anna asked as she sipped her soda, looked up at him, trailing one hand through her long dark hair as she tried desperately not to blurt something stupid out. She had the tendency to do that when nervous. Finally, she managed to come up with, " I think I met you once.. We were younger.. My dad bought us to the beach.. Right?"

And then it hit her.. She had met him before! So that proved one theory about her long recurring sexual dream about him correct. She felt herself calming down a little because for a little while there, she'd been seriously debating on her actual sanity since finding out that apparently, Embry was not a figment her imagination created, some realization of her 'ideal man' or something that didn't exist.

He did exist and she'd spent an entire day playing with him right here on the beach. He'd been as shy as he apparently still was now, back then.

"I can't believe you remember that. My mom and your dad were talking and stuff.. And I think I actually picked up a lizard and you ran like hell." Embry said as he smiled a little, blushed. Okay, so that hadn't been too awkward. Now he just had to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah, I'm not scared of 'em anymore.. I actually owned about 3 geckos while I was living in Florida with my mom and Phil." Anna admitted sheepishly, adding a few moments later, "How have you been?"

"Good.. Mostly just going to school, working part time. Trying to get my own place, actually." Embry said quietly as he realized that the two of them had sort of started to walk away from the rest of the group.

"Same.. I mean I'm living with Dad right now, he needs the company, but I'm looking for a place.. I'm sort of doing a work study thing at the police station. I wanna be a coroner. Or a crime scene investigator, maybe both.." Anna said as Embry looked at her a moment and she explained with a shrug, "It's interesting? And steady work.. Okay, I'm a nerd, damn it. There is no other explanation."

" There's nothing wrong with it.. I just don't think I'd be able to handle it." Embry admitted with a shrug as he raked his hand through his hair.

"Your hair.. You cut it off." Anna said as she pouted a moment. One thing still had her puzzled though.. If she'd only seen him when they were much younger, how the hell then, did her brain form such a damned accurate picture of how he looked now, as an adult male? She puzzled over that as she finished off her soda.

"Yeah, but not all of it. It's growing back out, I'm too lazy to be bothered, really."

"Good."

Embry smiled at her and then asked, "So.. How long have you been back?"

"Almost a month now, give or take. I was just tired of bouncing around from place to place. I think I've lived in Florida, New York, Louisiana and Georgia.. Finally realized that nothing beat home and so here I am.." Anna said as she shuffled her bare feet in the sand a few moments, looking out at the ocean. She was more than tempted to dive in, of course, but presently, she was enjoying conversation with Embry.

Maybe she'd get him to go for a swim or something later.

She mentally kicked herself for even thinking that.. For all she knew, he had a date or something.

"So.. Who'd you come with?" Anna asked boldly, surprising herself a little even as the words left her mouth.

"Myself, actually."

"I came with Leah. She threatened to sit on me for a third time this week. Last time we were goofing off, Sue kinda kicked us out in the yard at Dad's, said she was afraid we were going to break something." Anna admitted with a laugh as Embry chuckled too and then asked, "What were you guys doing?"

"Honestly?"

"Yeah.."

"We were fighting over the remote.. She wanted to watch some movie, I was watching American Horror Story, it was a friendly bullshit thing, mostly." Anna said as she laughed, shaking her head as she added, "And the entire time, Renesmee sat there watching us like we'd both lost it. Renesmee is my niece.. She's a pretty cool kid."

"Yeah, Jacob babysits her sometimes." Embry said as he laughed a little at what she'd just told him, the whole horseplay thing with herself and Leah.

"Are you hungry?" Embry asked as he couldn't help but hear her stomach growling. Anna laughed as her stomach growled and admitted sheepishly, "I could eat, yeah.. I seriously think I could eat my own weight in food sometimes or something."

She mentally kicked herself again, she knew she was awkward most of the time, but seriously? She had to be this awkward? In front of Embry, who'd made more of an impression on her mind than she'd ever imagined if her long recurring dreams were anything to go by?

"Cool." Embry said with a laugh as the two of them made their way over to the grill and picnic area, grabbing plates.

Paul threw a football in Anna's direction, intending to throw it to Embry but Anna caught it and smirked as she threw it back. "Seriously, man?" Embry asked, glaring at Paul, growling a little. Leave it to Paul to try and antagonize him or something.

"What? She caught it." Paul asked Embry, noting the jealous look in Embry's eyes. He mouthed an apology while Anna was still loading her plate down.

"Yeah, well it almost nailed us." Embry said as he turned his attention back to Anna, who now stood there with a fully loaded plate, a red plastic cup of tea in her hand, looking at him, an amused smile on her face as she asked, "So.. Where's everyone sitting?"

"Over there, by the fire." Embry nodded towards the bonfire, Leah catching up to them, asking Anna with a teasing smile, "Well?"

"Leah, damn it." Anna grumbled quietly as Leah smirked and shrugged and then said "Hey, I told you, one way or another, you should meet him."

"A little warning though, I mean I literally look like hell."

"You look fine, damn it. Natural." Leah said as she laughed at her friend who was currently a bundle of nervous energy.

They made their way to the bonfire to sit down and eat, Embry and Anna keeping a conversation going almost the entire time.

Anna's cell phone went off and her ring tone made Seth snicker as he raised a brow and asked, "Ring of Fire?"

"What? It's a good song."

"Okay then.."

"How's work going? Jacob said something about you working in a police station now?" Rachel, Paul's imprint asked as she smiled at Anna, noticed how well Embry and Anna seemed to actually be getting along.

"It's going pretty good. I think I'll wind up doing both forensics and being the coroner.. The guy working there now is pretty old, he told me earlier that he's depending on me to get the hang of things so he can retire.. Wants to move to Montana and fly fish."

"I just remember when you were younger, all the tutus and stuff." Rachel admitted with a laugh as Anna laughed too and then shrugged, looked down at herself and said jokingly through a mouth full, "Yeah, it's safe to say that was a phase or something. I still like shoes though. Sadly."

"Are you going to come to the Halloween carnival?" Leah asked, seeing a chance to sort of provide another run in between Anna and Embry, just in case Anna didn't actually follow through on her advice for tonight and actually get Embry's number or something.

"Duh, it's only one of my favorite holidays.. I'm also toilet papering my sister's yard.. Nessie is helping.. Bella doesn't know yet." Anna admitted, hints of a mischevious grin coming out as she said it. Leah snickered and Jacob grumbled, shaking his head for a moment and then asking, "You two aren't starting the prank war from hell over again, are you?"

"She never actually participated in the last one, Jake."

Embry asked with a raised brow, "What happened?" as he tried not to laugh at the mental image of Bella having to keep an annoyingly calm demeanor while left and right there were pranks being played on her.

"Let's just say that for the one entire week the summer she and that weirdo came to visit, I made her completely insane. Paper mache body parts in the fridge, jumping out of closets in hockey masks in the dark and scaring her.. Sort of why the weirdo calls me Trickster. I think he's just still bent out of shape that I put temporary blue hair dye into his shampoo or something." Anna said with a shrug as she licked barbecue sauce off of her fingers and finished eating the ribs on her plate.

"Are there pictures of this alleged prank war?" Paul asked, getting nudged by Rachel who spoke up and then said "There don't need to be any, trust me.. I've seen her get her sister quite a few times."

Jacob chuckled and then said "The water pail above the front door."

"That one actually got our dads." Anna admitted, shaking her head as she laughed and looked up at Embry, shrugging, a sheepish look on her face. "Okay, so I was an overgrown child sometimes.. But not this time. I'm stopping at the toilet papering. And I'm only doing that so Renesmee can actually be a kid.. I mean the weird one and Bells really don't let her do too much, I've noticed."

"There's nothing wrong with it." Embry said as he laughed a little, taking a bite of his burger, noticing that she'd already eaten half the food on her plate, that it was cute when she ate, she tended to appear as if she were inhaling her food.

"No, but I'm an adult now." Anna mused aloud, laughing a little, shrugging. She finished the ribs and started in on the burger she'd made herself, grumbling when mustard dripped from the burger and onto her Guns N Roses t shirt.

"Want a burger with that mustard?" Leah joked with her friend as she laughed.

Anna blushed a little and happened to look up at Embry, saying through a mouth full, "I might have overdone it on the ketchup and mustard."

"Maybe a little." Embry said with a laugh as he swore a little when he wound up dropping the rib slab in his hand onto the cargo shorts he wore. "I have no room to talk though."

They finished eating and Anna eyed the water then suggested, "I'm thinking a swim.. Not right now, because the thirty minutes thing.. But in a little bit.. Are you in?"

"Yeah." Embry said as he smiled at her and then asked, "Wanna walk down the beach a little?"

"Yeah.. I need to walk off this food.. My kickboxing instructor would have my ass right now, eating all of this." Anna admitted, laughing a little.

"You do kickboxing? Remind me not to piss you off." Embry joked, laughing, waving his hands defensively, giving her a gentle smile.

"I'm pretty sure, Embry, you could take little ol me." Anna said as she smiled back, bit her lower lip. Okay, so that had come out more flirty than she intended.

They walked down the beach, talking and laughing, and when they finally decided to go for that swim, it was getting close to midnight. And Anna was pleasantly surprised. Okay, so letting Leah talk her into coming tonight, meeting Embry for the second time in her life..

It might have been one of her better ideas.

She smiled as she looked up at Embry, they were standing by her car again by now, she was about to have to leave. "So.. If you want my number.." Anna suggested as she held out her phone to him, taking his phone when he'd taken hers. Before she got into her car to leave, she said with a softer than usual smile, "I had an amazing time tonight. I'd like to hang out again."

"Me too. I'll call you.. You can call me too if you want." Embry said as he smiled, waving to her as she pulled away, drove off, heading back to her fathers house.


End file.
